Peace

Hi,

The weather in Chiang Rai started cool, but turned into a blazing afternoon.  It’s the first time we’ve turned on the air in many days.  

The ‘Old School Friday’ song was “What’s Your Name” by Don and Juan.  Time for another ‘Easy Monday’ (5) tune from the world of One Hit Wonders.  In honor of the L.A. heatwave:  “__ __ __ when the weather is hot, you can stretch right up and touch the sky.  When the weather’s fine you got women, you got women on your mind.  Have a drink, have a drive, got out and see what you can find.”  Hint:  One of those seasonal songs that gets a reprieve once a year.

Yesterday we had a major adventure.  A few months ago we learned about a doctor that does a procedure that apparently solves lots of physical problems.  Things like chronic headaches, low energy, allergies, digestive issues, so we went yesterday.  One thing to understand is that this doctor speaks no English, but has an M.D. from a university in China and also extensive acupuncture studies.  His son is also a doctor and the son’s wife is their assistant.  We learned all of this over lunch with our friend Edwin, who has been treated by ‘Maw Dang’, which translates to “Dr. Red."  We picked up Cat to go as our translator and it was perfect.  It turns out this is the same doctor that Blue went to many years ago and he remembered Cat. 

The doctor’s office is a house.  He works there on Saturday and Sunday only, so this was our big chance.  After a little wait, we were ushered into the ‘treatment’ room.  It was the size of a medium sized bedroom with two beds that were occupied.  We sat and watched as a woman was treated with acupuncture needles and a man was being diagnosed by the doc on the other bed.  The man on the bed was put in a chair and it was Lisa's turn.  Maw Dang is a very energetic guy who knows what he’s doing and wants to teach you things.  He would ask questions and Cat would answer in Thai.  At one point he told Lisa, ‘You don’t have migraines, it’s something different’.  He got this from holding her hand.  A few more exchanges and he explained that he could fix it all.  Here’s the catch, there is a minor surgical procedure that they do behind each ear that is the key to this healing process.  We knew about it, and were told that it was painless, except for the shot to numb the area.  Fine, do it.  I went through the Q and A and he told me several things about myself that I knew to a certain extent.  He said my system was ‘off’, meaning my digestion, and that he could help me.  If this works, my life will change radically.  There was also the cat allergies, the back pain, sleep stuff, and on and on.  His response:  Can fix.  OK.  Oh, two more things: we cannot wash our hair for seven days and we have to drink the brew from a bag of herbs that looks like yard waste.  The smell isn’t so bad, but the taste is horrible.  We’ve gone through day one and survived.  Natcha is being a dream, preparing the herbs for us and altering our menu.  We have a huge list of foods we cannot eat, including no coffee or tea for 3 months.  A lot of food restrictions that will either see us get dramatically better, or waste away in the process (555).  There was also a caution not to do anything too strenuous this week.  Today we know why, the word ‘Blah’ comes to mind.  More on this adventure as it unfolds.  

Today’s photo is the herbs that get boiled and the pot they cook in.

Hopefully, things will settle down tomorrow, or at least normalize a bit.  We figured out that there are two places we can go for meals outside of the house, The Wanderer and Sawadee in the Night Bazaar.  Both places will cook for us.  Morning outings will be at The Wanderer where we can have rose tea (not actually tea but made from rose petals) and roti.  Oh joy.  

Time to wander off to another quick nap. 

Have a Great Week.

                      Peace,

                                Danny

“Everything that has a 

beginning has an ending.

Make your peace with that

and all will be well.”

~Buddha